Water-log

Shoots are growing - some are up to 12". Shoots & leaves showed slight signs of water stress, so I gave 'em about 3 hrs worth of water today, and have been continually monitoring the number of shoots per node (specifically, keeping them to a sane number - LOTS of them are wanting to emerge!)

Water-Log

Drip-irrigated 3 gal/vine today, and tomorrow after it's done raining I'll give the shoots another light spray of Kaligreen (rows 6-9); Stylet Oil (rows 1-5). 2 oz per gallon = 1.56% concentrate, which is about the concentration needed for each of these products.

Very Vetchey

In our cover crop, there's one wildflower, Common Vetch I believe, that does REALLY well. It started out towards the top rows, and has spread down to row 5 or so. It looks great, but is growing like mad - and I was worried it may be too vigorous to be an appropriate cover crop.

Vetch is apparently very good at fueling the soil with nitrogen. Whew! Several vineyards I've read about (including Tablas Creek) let it grow, mowing as needed, and even turning it under the soil after flowering.

So I'll let it bloom, then thin, turn under, compost, or more likely a combination of all of the above.

New Shoots

Here is a handful of shots focusing on the whiteness of new growth.

The white fuzzy scared me at first (ie: ACK - are the vines already infected with PM?), but I've been assured by growers with more experience they're looking pretty normal.

This morning I sprayed shoots longer than about 4" with Kaligreen (Potassium Bicarbonate), and on row 5 I sprayed everything with it, since it's the lightest-duty stuff and I don't *think* it'll be problematic. Fewer than half the shoots met this criteria as of today, so I'll be keeping a close eye on their progress.

A Functioning Funicular

The boy is fast - yesterday Bruce cranked out a fully working funicular!

It still needs some safety devices (including an anchor, paint, strapping devices, etc), but it works.

Budburst Complete

As of today, it looks as if we're at close to 90% of the vineyard having gone through bud burst, almost exactly bottom to top of the hill.

The vines are growing - hard to see in this picture but the bottom 3 rows have actual leaves, top 6 rows are still buds that have barely broken.

Today's tasks:
- Pinched off extra buds on rows 1-4
- Watered 4 hrs